Never enough information!

On Monday, I attended a Sheepdog training seminar in Peoria IL. Some of you may be wondering why someone who has tens of thousands of hours of research over 14 years would go see a competitors seminar.

Well, let’s start of with the word competitor. In our business, we are not competitors, or at least we shouldn’t be. We are missionaries looking for the same end, protecting the flock. We should be working together, just like multiple Pastors work together to save souls.

How true is this? While there, I talked with Jimmy Meeks, and when he realized who I was, he asked me if I had enough business cards to hand them out to everyone (I believe the final count was 402 people). Notice he didn’t revert back into a hole and try to be defensive, he wanted me to be active in teaching the principles to save peoples lives. Those of us that are in this for the right reason want to work together to protect God’s Children. You can see some of what Jimmy teaches and preaches by watching this video.

The second thing that I want to point out, I went there to gain more knowledge! Maybe they were teaching something new, something that I was not aware of, something that could save a life! I learned several things, but what was most telling to me were the actual testimonies, such as the one by Carl Chinn.

Carl was involved with two incidents, at two separate venues. The first incident in 1996 was a mentally disturbed gunman, who brought a bomb and firearms into Focus on the Family ministry. Carl and two woman were held hostage for hours. The second incident occurred in 2007, at New Life Church in Colorado Springs CO. A gunman who had killed two people at a ministry the day before, waited until hired law enforcement left the church, then he began killing people. He started in the parking lot, and then worked his way inside. Carl talked about the way chunks of concrete pillars seemed to explode from the gunman’s shots, and how Jeanne Assam was in the right place at the right time, and she shot the perpetrator. Here is a brief video of Carl being interviewed about this incident. Carl is an advocate of tactical training for church security teams.

I should point out that Saving Lives and Souls does not advocate for, or against, using firearms to protect the church. We do however believe that that the right type of firearm in the hands of a well trained individual can save lives in the event of a church shooting. The decision is ultimately up to the church.

The third and final speaker was Lt. Colonel Dave Grossman. Dave talked about preparing yourself bulletproofing your mind. Dave, who has a graduate degree in Psychology, spoke about the mindset we need to have. Dave told many stories and provided a lot of information. One my favorite stories he shared was about World War two, and can be seen in this video.

In the end, I walked away with more knowledge about how to protect the flock. That is the reason I went to this and will go to other seminars. You can never have too much knowledge when it comes to protecting God’s flock. That is why we all encourage you to attend more than one training on protecting the church. I also invite you to look at materials that these men of God offer. Don’t forget the tourniquet, which can save lives! Until next week, … Mark